The beauty of Uzbek traditional dances
The beauty of Uzbek traditional dances
Like the typical dances in Asia, especially the Indian dances, Uzbek dances are distinguished by the richness of facial expressions and hand gestures, aimed to tell a story. They come from the great folk and cultural repertoire of the country; like for example the dance Katta Uyin, the “Great Game”, which tells an epic poem on the legend of divinity Siyavush.
Therefore the precision of expressions and gestures is important, since each one serves to narrate an element of a story. Pantomimic performances are linked to ancient rites, to religion, to everyday life; they are able to express both the joy of life and pain, war and death. Another example of gestures in dance is related with work in the fields or the silk weaving.
Traditional dances can be seen during the Nauryz festivities, during important parties and events, including weddings. There are three main schools, depending on the regions of the country: Ferghana, Bukhara and Khorezm. The first school is characterized by gentler movements and strong expressiveness of the face and hand gestures. The Bukhara school, on the other hand, presents more decisive movements, a conspicuous work of shoulders; the dancers wear refined costumes with golden embroidery. The dance coming from Khorezm is instead more lively and requires fluency and agility. The dancers wear the typical headgear of the place, the tubeteika decorated with colorful bird feathers and bands of rattles on the sides.
All schools and types of dances include dancers and dancers dressed in traditional clothes different from region to region; always richly decorated and defined in detail. The beauty and grace of the movements made the Uzbek dance so particularly required; that also the Chinese imperial court competed to hire these artists.
Nowadays only professionals dance, since the dances were banned by an Islamic edict at the beginning of the twentieth century, which however did not eradicate this huge cultural baggage. Here is a link where you can witness a performance of the typical Khorezm dance.